Kyle Shanahan sleeping in his office ahead of Thursday night game

The rigors of the NFL schedule for every team include a Thursday night game typically coming off just three days of rest after a game Sunday.

And that challenge is particularly unique for Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers this week entering their third regular season game against the Los Angeles Rams. The 49ers are learning a new system and are coming off a physically taxing game Sunday against the Seahawks.

“It’s always a challenge for the players because your body is never quite ready by that time,” Shanahan said in a conference call Monday.

“We can’t go too hard in practice. It’s got to be a lot more assignment-based to try to get this all in. Players got to get their sleep. They’ve got to start hydrating right now and we’ve got to take advantage of every extra thing we allow them to do with massages and things like that. This game will be here before you know it, and there’s no time to do anything but prepare for Thursday.”

The challenge for the coaching staff includes installing a game plan in just one day while it usually has three on a normal week. The 49ers will hold just one practice on Tuesday before kickoff.

All the extra work in film and meetings rooms means Shanahan will be sleeping in his office as he crams to digest the Rams’ first two games and piece together his offensive attack.

“We’ve got to find the hours somehow,” Shanahan said. “…We’ll definitely live up here probably the next few days, which makes those few days harder. But, just like what I said for the players, the good thing about Thursday Night Football is no matter how hard and miserable it is to prepare for it because it’s so soon, it’s also nice to get those three extra days to relax after it, which is very hard to come by in the NFL. ”

The 49ers will have the weekend off to heal before traveling to Arizona Week 4. Those extra days could help for safeties Eric Reid (knee) and Jaquiski Tartt (neck) after coming out of Sunday’s game listed on the team’s initial injury report on Monday. Reid won’t play, Shanahan said, while Tartt remains questionable.

The entire defense is faced with getting their bodies right after playing 79 snaps against the Seahawks, who dominated time of possession because San Francisco’s offense managed just 11 first downs and one possession longer than seven plays.

“This is a big mental, get your body right week and usually Thursday night is about which team can show up the freshest,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. “The whole mindset is about us and getting ourselves ready to play over scheme.”

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